eleneariel | Entries tagged with quotes

Inglehart hypothesized that when people grew up in relative abundance, their social values - what they wanted out of life - changed. People who knew that their basic needs were satisfied would gradually adopt different values from those who lived with scarcity. Hungry people cared about survival, Inglehart said. But those who grew up in abundance would be more concerned with self-expression. Those who lived in times of depression and joblessness esteemed economic growth. Those who knew plenty were more concerned about the environment and individual choice.

The Big Sort, Bill Bishop

Current Mood: lethargic

Here's something you may not know about me: I have eleven notebooks (and counting) full of quotations. Many years ago I inherited a handwritten notebook of quotations that my great aunt had made for my grandmother, the best of what she had gleaned from her favorite books. I had always liked to copy down my favorite passages from books so that I could reread them again and again, and from that point on I started writing them down in notebooks that I decorated myself. As I read books or magazine articles -- or anything, really -- I write down the passages that strike me as funny, or wise, or just well-worded. I have snatches of poetry, palendromes, puns, and tongue-twisters. Sometimes I clip cartoons and paste them in. Sometimes I even quote some of you, my friends list.

I like these quotes, and I copied each one down for a reason. I've often thought about ending some of my posts with one from my notebooks, but it takes me too long to go through and select the brightest and the best, one that people will "get" and enjoy. Each one has a meaning to me, but they must look like an assortment of gibberish to others.

So I finally thought -- every so often, why not just select one at random? I may not keep it up, but it sounds like fun for now. I like an excuse to open my notebooks and I like the thrill of wondering what random bit will surface first. I like sharing things that mean something to me.

Commence random opening of notebook #11:

"Just remember: in a crisis like this, we must never forget our patron."
"Not that our patron would ever let us," George Melville muttered.
Miss Zukas and the Library Murders by Jo Dereske

1. The History of Love, Nicole Krauss

All I want is not to die on a day when I went unnoticed.

A very beautiful book. Unfortunately I'm not sure I understood everything, and that bothers me, but it wasn't a book that one was meant to understand all of, I think. Therefore, I predict that it is going to become a classic.

2. Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Dave Barry and Ridley Pierson

I finally finished it. Finally. I don't know why it took me so long! There was some neat foreshadowing to the real Peter Pan story, which I won't reveal in case anybody hasn't read it yet. I liked the little "Oh, cool!" moments, though.

3. Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare

Bought the movie, decided it was time to read the play again. Good stuff.

4. A Perfect Mess, Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman

( Sorry, this is the list that goes On and On. I read a lot this month, or had a lot to say about what I read. Hannah, make sure you click, there's something under the cut for you. )

Currently reading: Small Gods, the last Pratchett book that I own but haven't yet read. *sob* That means, except for new ones yet unwritten, I only have two or possibly three left to read! Tragedy!

Current Music: When Diana Fell, The Rogues

Good Omens is a really hilarious book, at least if you're into that kind of thing, you know. It's half Pratchett, and the introduction itself is worth the entire cost of the book.

Look! It's the Spanish Inquisition: "Art thou a witch, viva espana?"

Um. Moving on.

For

wistfulmaid, with apologies for having forgotten until now:

( Hint-Of-Orange French Toast )

I doubled the recipe and it was enough for our family of 5, and although it's okay with french bread, I personally would probably prefer it with regular sandwich bread. French just takes longer to cook. =)

(I made flans today! Yum yum.)

And now, moving on a bit more, we have interview questions from

crystallia, who dared to ask questions that actually -- gasp -- made me think:

1. If you could ask God for one gift, what would it be?

This is really tough. Possibly I would ask for the wisdom to know what exactly I am supposed to do in various situations so I can quit wasting time mucking about trying to figure it out and taking twice as long to get to the right end as I should. And then I'd hope for the willpower to use that no-longer-wasted time in a useful manner and not just waste it on something else.

2. If you were given an extra $1,000 each month, how would you use it?

I'm boring; I'd probably just save it for use on something later. Then again, maybe I'd be impulsive and buy a shiny black Chrysler Crossfire. You can never tell with me!

3. If you had to live the life (not necessarily make the choices) of any famous person, past or present, who would it be?

I'd like to be Queen Elizabeth II. Some people think I kind of look like her in her younger days, anyway. ;) But I wouldn't marry Prince Phillip and I would raise up my family a bit differently, I should think.

(Seriously, I really don't have a clue who to choose. Each era/person/position has its drawbacks, and I'm just pretty much happy being me!)

4. If you could work in any job, in any place, where would it be and what would be the job?

This library and this job, only without any messy bureaucracy or annoying things. Or, alternatively, as the head of my own private library, "Where Membership is a Privilege, Not A Right!"TM Patrons would have to pass an extensive background check before their application is approved, and I would have strict rules and would be merciless to those who break them, would not allow any children under 16, and reserve the right to kick out anybody at anytime. Mwahahaha.

5. If someone wanted to become exactly like you (in all good ways), describe in detail what they would need to do, be like, everything :-)

Why would anybody want to be exactly like me? o_O Scary thought, that. In a nutshell, they would have to read voraciously, remember odd little facts from said reading at useless and often highly inappropriate times, have a twisted sense of humor and a a contrarian spirit, appreciate the odd made-up word, and be able to bluff their way through almost any situation whilst quaking inside. In dress and manner they would be rather chamelianish, being at times the bohemian, the proper lady, and the tomboy, sometimes all at once. They would change their mind often about little things but rarely about big things. They would also be very bad at describing themselves. =P

I'm too lazy to go look up the exact wording, but if anybody is dying for a few interview questions of their own, comment and thou shalt receive.

A quote from Kiera Knightly, who seems to have a quirky bent:

U.K guys -- well, the ones that I know -- don't take as much stock in their appearance. Ask an American guy what his beauty regime is, and he'll tell you. Ask a Brit, and he'll say, 'Er ... Guinness?' I like that!

I like that too. *snicker*

(Granted, it's a broad generalization of American men. I doubt I know many at all who have such a regime, much less would admit it.)

Travel developments: It seems that the ONLY place this airline can take me from here is Denver. That's literally the only place they fly from this airport. So there's no way to get rerouted unless the Denver airport actually closes. Ha! The snowstorm is headed directly there less than a day before I'm due to fly in, so any spare prayers you'd like to direct that way would be really appreciated.

Actually I think it would be kind of fun to be stuck in an airport for an indetermined amount of time not to exceed, say, two days, but not while I know I'm missing Fun Times in the place I am supposed to be. Also, I do not want to say this too loudly in case I jinx myself. Also, I am excessively nervous about them losing my suitcase, which is very precious to me.

Where ever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
"Where are you going today?" says Pooh:
"Well, that's very odd 'cos I was too.
Let's go together," says Pooh, says he.
"Let's go together," says Pooh.

...

"Lets frighten the dragons," I said to Pooh.
"That's right," said Pooh to Me.
"I'm not afraid," I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted, "Shoo!
Silly old dragons!" --and off they flew.
"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you."

...

So where ever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh.

_{A.A. Milne}

Copywrite Notice

When you write copy, you have the right to copyright the copy you write, if the copy is right. If however, your copy falls over, you must right your copy. If you write religious services you write rite, and have the right to copyright the rite you write.

Very conservative people write right copy, and have the right to copyright the right copy they write. A right wing cleric would write right rite, and has the right to copyright the right rite he has the right to write. His editor has the job of making the right rite copy right before the copyright can be right.

Should Thom Wright decide to write right rite, then Wright would write right rite, which Wright has the right to copyright. Duplicating that rite would copy Wright right rite, and violate copyright, which Wright would have the right to right. Right?

______

And in other news, it's a wonderful day, my phone has a new battery, my dad defended me to someone on a subject he had previously berated me on, two guys in a car with Texas plates waved wildly at me on the highway, and I need advice on how to give a cat a bath. Because I don't think it's going to be pretty.

From the 2002 column Dave Barry wrote about Talk Like A Pirate Day:

As you can see, talking like a pirate will infuse your everyday conversations with romance and danger. So join the movement! On Sept. 19, do not answer the phone with ''hello.'' Answer the phone with ''Ahoy me hearty!'' If the caller objects that he is not a hearty, inform him that he is a scurvy dog (or, if the caller is female, a scurvy female dog) who will be walking the plank off the poop deck and winding up in Davy Jones' locker, sleeping with the fishes. No, wait, that would be Talk Like a Pirate in The Godfather Day, which is another variation I considered (``I'm gonna make him an offer that will shiver his timbers'').

Liberrian: One who picks liberries from wild liberry bushes and makes a liberry pie. Mmmmh! Mmmmh! So delicious!

- R. Lee Hadden, "Library Juice" 12 April 2000

^{I wanna name tag that says "liberrian".}

But especially for

ladyharriet, because when I read this today, it sounded exactly like something she might have written.

Being pregnant is fun because you needn't accomplish anything else today. No matter how many hours you frittered away with nothing concrete to show for them -- no novels written, fortunes earned, trees planted, drowning swimmers resuscitated, cathedrals designed, or even missing buttons replaced -- or even dishes washed -- you were pregnant all day long. You were adding extra cells, maybe frivolous refinements like ears and fingernails, to a human body. That's enough to keep anyone busy and justify the day.

--Endangered Pleasures: In defense of naps, bacon, martinis, profanity, and other indulgences, by Barbara Holland

My latest stock dividend check was drawn on Mellon Bank in Pittsburg. I suppose it always has been, but this is the first time I noticed the name of the bank. I'm enough of a geek that it makes me smile. Mellon!

I read Guards! Guards! by Pratchett last month, and I forgot to mention when I did my book list something about it that I liked. It featured more promenantly than usual a certain Librarian (you may call him an ape and feed him bananas, but just don't use the monkey word in his presence...) and thus had some great library quotes:

The truth is that even big collections of ordinary books distort space, as can readily be proved by anyone who has ever been around a really old-fashioned secondhand bookshop, one of those that look as thought they were designed by M. Escher on a bad day and have more staircases than storys and those rows of shelves which end in little doors that are surely too small for full-sized human to enter. The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.

and

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be.

I think I killed my blood sugar today. That was interesting. I had to give up on my exercise regimin after fifteen minutes or risk falling over. But I've been really enjoying the lecture series while I work out--am I a geek for thinking Indo-European is super cool? In the next lecture we move on to Anglo-Saxon, which is even better.

I'm in charge of the library the next two Saturdays, so no staying up late for me tonight. G'night, all. *blows kisses*

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: home

Coffee shop conversations are the best ones to listen in on.

Two ladies at the table next to me were reading each other their Christian poetry and discussing the best ways to go about getting it printed. It was mostly about how hard it was to be a social worker and work with all these destitute, lost people and be forbidden to share Jesus with them.

Three old ladies just across the room and were having a lively discussion about The Da Vinci Code and the resurrection of Christ.

Of course, nothing tops my favorite overheard coffee shop snippet at Starbucks when a well dressed gentleman vastly declared, "I've never had an original thought in my life. All these years, I've just been plagiarizing."

You see, now.

To make this not a useless post, I add:

Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the Captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying.

The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett

For those of us with a bookish bent, reading is a reflexive response to everything. This is how we deal with the world and anything new that comes our way. We have always known that there is a book for every occasion and every obsession. When in doubt, we are always looking things up.

-Diane Scheonperlen, Our Lady of the Lost and Found

It is human nature to distrust genius. We are suspicious of the exceptional and the brilliant; they unsettle us. Too often we recoil at the extraordinary, alarmed by the orginality we see.

-Jake Morrissey, The Genius in the Design

And finally, how six inch high little blue Nac Mac Feegle steal cattle:

"One under each foot. Seen 'em do it. You see a cow in a field, mindin' its own business, next minute the grass is rustlin', some little bugger shoults 'hup, hup, hup,' and the poor beast goes past voom! without its legs movin'," said Nanny.

Up the airy mountain and down the rushy geln ran the Nac Mac Feegle, who seemed to have no concept of stealth. Progress was a little slower now, because some of the party broke away occasionally to have a fight amongst themselves or an impromptu hunt, and in addition to the King of Lancre there was now, bobbing through the heather, the fox, a stunned stag, a wild boar, and a weasel who'd been suspected of looking at the Nac Mac Feegle in a funny way.

-Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.

I have not yet applied my Seriously Super Librarian Skills, but I can't find out who said this. It irritateth me. I want to know. I think it is quite brilliant and true.

I like the name Emmaleigh, although it might be trying too hard to be different. Pretty, though.

That's all the brilliant conversation I have in me for today, sorry.

I find these two almost unbearably beautiful.

Since ther's no helpe, Come let us kisse and part,
Nay, I have done: You get no more of Me,
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly, I my Selfe can free,
Shake hands for ever, Cancell all our Vowes,
And when We meet at any time againe,
Be is not seene in either of our Browes,
That We one jot of former Love reteyne...

-Michael Drayton, 1563-1631

We can never go back, that much is certain. The past is still too close to us. The things we have tried to forget and put behind us would stir again, and that sense of fear, of furtive unrest, strugglng at length to blind unreasoning panic--now mercifully stilled, thank God--might in some manner unforeseen become a living companion, as it had been before.

-Daphne DuMaurier, Rebecca

I haven't been looking back much lately, but it's always good to remember that looking forward is best.

Our main door at the library has developed a smug sound as it opens and closes, exactly like the doors in Zaphoid's spaceship.

"Ghastly," continued Marvin, "it all is. Absolutely ghastly. Just don't even talk about it. Look at this door," he said, stepping through it. The irony circuits cut into his voice modulator as he mimicked the style of the sales brochure. "All the doors in this spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition. It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done."

As the door closed behind them it became apparent that it did indeed have a satisfied sigh-like quality to it. "Hummmmmmmyummmmmmm ah!" it said.
--The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Found on the inside flap of a new box of chai I just opened:

Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. --Sanskrit proverb

Sanskrit again. I think it's a sign.

I want to go home now and start living well. *eyes the clock*

Less than one week now, and do you think I've mapped out my plot yet? Ha! Hardly. It's all there and I know it in my head, but it would be helpful to have some sort of time line before I start.

I spent an hour rearranging art today. How lovely, working at a library which also houses an impressive (and frighteningly expensive) art collection.

Because my head is full of questions and I can assure you no answer to any one of them has ever brought me one iota of happiness. Except for one. The one. The only question I've ever wanted an answer to--is she the one? The answer bloody well isn't forty-two, it's yes. Undoubtedly, unequivocally, unabashadly yes. And for one week, one week in my sad little blip of an existence, it made me happy.

I think that's one of the most touching little romantic speeches I've ever heard in a movie.

"Hooah" - (who-a) adj. [Slang used by soldiers, primarily airborne/rangers] referring to or meaning anything and everything except "no". 1. What to say when at a loss for words. 2. Good copy, solid copy, roger, good, great, message received, understood. 3. Glad to meet you, welcome. 4. I don't know the answer but I'll check on it, I haven't the vaguest idea. 5. I am not listening. 6. That's enough of your dribble--sit down. 7. Stop sniveling. 8. Yes. 9. Thank you. 10. Go to the next slide. 11. You've taken the correct action. 12. I don't know what that means, but I am too embarrassed to ask for clarification. 13. Amen.

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eleneariel

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Joie de vivre

i thank you God for most this amazing day

Entries tagged with quotes

Quote

I've eaten ham-and-cream-cheese-filled crepes for four of my last five meals and they are delicious!

March Booklist

A wrapping-up-loose-ends sort of post

(no subject)

Friendship

I would like this copyright notice on my info page, but it would probably violate copyright laws

One last pirate thing, because it involves that fount of all wisdom, the Godfather

Quote of the day

for all of my pregnant friends...

Friday night and the moon is bright

Overheard conversations

Hey. Hannah!

It's a quote-ful day

(no subject)

Quotation time

(no subject)

Who says you can't be spoken to by tea?

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snicker So true

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July 2011

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